Language game
A language game is a concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein at the beginning of his book Philosophical Investigations. A language game is a simple language, combined with a context that shows what to do with the language. One example he gives is a language for building, containing two words, 'slab' and 'brick'. When A says 'slab' to B, B finds a slab and gives it to A; likewise, when A says 'brick' to B, B finds a brick and gives it to A.
A common difficulty with language games is that they are usually passed down orally.
While written translations can be made, they are often imperfect, and thus spelling can vary widely.
Some factions argue that words in these spoken tongues should simply be written the way they are pronounced,
while others insist that the purity of language demands that the transformation remain visible when the words are imparted to paper.
Contrary to what proponents of either side may tell you, there is no one definitive written lexicon for language games, but it is rather a matter of dialect.
In another sense, language games are not technically artificial languages so much as heuristics for altering language, like a code. They are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others.
Most common examples are: Pig latin, which is used all over the globe; the Gibberish family, prevalent mainly in the USA and Hungary, and Verlan in France.
Each of these "languages games" involves a usually simple standard transformation to speech, thus encoding it. The languages can be easily decoded by a skilled speaker, who swaps or removes the necessary letters or syllables.
Host Language Game Name Basic Rules Notes
Dutch reversed elements & words mercantile code
English (etc.) Pig latin first consonant to end +ay
English bicycle schwa ess after all consonants
English Cockney rhyming slang canonical rhyming word pairs; speakers often drop the second word of common pairs trouble & strife = wife
English eggegg langeggwagegg apparently, insert "egg" after each syllable
English gibberish insert "itherg" before the first vowel in a syllable Gibberish is also a family of related language games.
English Ubbi dubbi insert "ub" before the first vowel in a syllable PBS show Zoom; part of the gibberish family
English yardle bardle
English zambuda
Farsi zabon-e-zargari
French Louchebem inital consonant to end, +var. suffixes, prepend "L"
French Verlan
German "lav" inserted after some vowel sounds
Hungarian repeat vowel add "v" Hungarian counterpart of Ubbi dubbi
Italian Latino Maccheronico
Japanese Ba-bi-bu-be-bo
Mandarin Fanquie
Portuguese Sima
Portuguese Linga do Pe
Russian Fufajskij yazyk
Russian porosyachia latin
Spanish "f" added to certain syllables
Swedish Allspråket first consonant to end +all
Swedish Isprikit all vowels changed to i
Swedish Rövarspråket consonants are changed to "consonant o consonant"